"I hate this~~"

Ricent let out a voice of complain as he scrubs the wet floor with a dry towel. The towel soon becomes wet, he then squeezed the towel dry above a wooden bucket right beside him. But as he was about to continue scrubbing the wet floor, he slumped his entire body down on to the floor, presumably tired.

"My arms huuuurt~ Feyt, let's just rest for a bit..."

I stopped my scrubbing and squeezed the water out of my towel into the bucket. I replied to Ricent while doing so.

"We don't have time, remember what your mom said?"

"Aaaaaaa~~~ But I want to play cards! Not clean my room! Why do I have to do this?!"

"This is your fault remember?! Besides! I'm not even supposed to help you!"

"Ah, right."

 

---

 

Right after the guards left, Ricent was told by his mother to clean the wrecked and soaked room on his own. It's his fault for casting magic indoors after all.

"If this room is not clean by lunchtime, I'll confiscate your playing cards!"

"What?! But that's impossible!"

"No buts! Clean this room now!"

Considering the size of this room, even if he were to clean it as fast as he could, he wouldn't be able to finish in time.

"Noooo!!!~ My playing cards!~!~"

Ricent's eyes teared up. Despite his age, he is very childish.

"My caaarrds~~~!!"

I kinda feel bad watching him like this, even though this mess is entirely his fault.

"Hah... I'll help..."

"Really Feyt~?! Thank you thank you thank you!!!"

Ricent took a hold of my shoulders and started shaking me in earnest with tears in his eyes.

"D-Don't shake me!!"

"Feyt, you don't have to help you know. Ricent should learn from his mistakes."

I reply, still being shaken excitedly by Ricent.

"But still, he's my frien- Gah! Stop shaking me!"

I bit my tongue damn it!

"Oh, sorry."

He let go of my shoulders.

"Well, if you insist. I'll grab some rags for you to clean with."

After grabbing the rags and towels, Ricent's mom went downstairs to take care of the pub. Leaving us to start cleaning Ricent's room.

 

---

 

Both of us continue cleaning. I decided to start a small talk to prevent boredom.

"You really like those cards huh?"

"Of course I do! I bought it myself!"

"I see..."

The floors are mostly dry now, it shouldn't take long to finish it. We continue our cleaning with the small talk.

"Oh yeah Feyt!"

"Hm?"

"How's the flute? You know how to play it yet?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Oh! Can you play it now?"

"No, I- I don't have it with me, haha..."

I brought it, but I left it in my room. Plus, I don't want to show people my mediocre music skills, I fear their criticism.

"Is that so... Mom said that if you play music a lot more, you can get a girlfriend or something."

"Like heck it's that easy!!"

If I show my mediocre flute skills to girls, I'll get ignored at best.

"Is getting a girlfriend that hard?"

"Of course it is! How about you? You got any?"

I doubt he has any, after all, we are-

"Well, I got confessed once."

...Huh? You got what?

"The elder's daughter said that she loves me last week, but..."

He actually got confessed? By the elder's daughter no less? If I remember correctly, she was quite popular in the village. There's no way Ricent got-

Wait, he said "But...". That means the confession failed?

Oh~ I see, it must have been a prank! Ah, poor kid~ I'm totally not relieved by realizing this at all~

I patted his shoulders to console him.

"She was only joking huh? It's alright, I'm here if you want to cry."

"Huh? No, she wasn't joking."

Eh?

"I was busy playing ball with the others back then so I kinda ignored her... I haven't met her since..."

...Who is this idiot? I want to kill him.

"F-Feyt? Y-You're crushing my shoulders..."

...

"See you soon Feyt!"

"Sure, bye Ricent."

I waved my arms towards Ricent as I leave his house. The room is mostly clean now, and Ricent insisted that he can finish the rest on his own, so I left early. I should go home quick though, mom's lunch should be ready. I turned my back to leave, but I was met with the three guards from before.

Wait, now that I think about it. I could have just ordered them to clean the room with me! Wait no, that will be too spoiled of me, never mind.

The guards noticed me and immediately bowed.

"Sir Feyt, we shall escort you to your house!"

"It's literally across from here though..."

"We shall escort you all the same Sir Feyt! Men! In position!"

"Yes Sir!!"

The guards saluted to the guard at the front which I assume is the captain, I can't really tell the difference since they all wear the same armor. They began to form the formation from before and motioned for me to stand at the back.

"Please stay close to us Sir Feyt!"

"S-Sure..."

I can see the people around us staring and whispering to each other. And naturally, I can hear them perfectly.

"It's that kid with the guards again."

"Does he really need that much protection?"

"They really let a kid into a pub?"

"Nobles lack shame."

"...the ambush unit is ready boss."

"This is why I hate nobles..."

"He doesn't dress like a noble though?"

"...good, we'll raid them at night."

"Hah! He must think that's his way of showing compassion or something."

"...money here we come~"

"So young, yet so shameless."

Don't judge me~! I can't help but be guarded like this all the time due to their demands! I'm just a commoner like you all! Not a snobbish spoiled noble kid!

Huh? Wait... What's that about a raid? I focused my ears to a certain conversation.

 

"...i still don't understand how our partner group was massacred, this village is suspicious."

"...oh, the 'red coated death' group right? that's a silly name to be honest."

"...don't you dare talk like that! they died with honor!"

"...do we bandits even have honor boss?"

"...shut up, we'll raid this place tonight, we'll grab every women and every valuable we can find!"

 

...That conversation sounds suspicious.

I looked at the direction of it. It was from an alley quite a distance away.

"Sir Feyt? What is the matter?"

"Ah, no. I think I heard something about a raid there."

I pointed to the alley, the guards eyes followed.

"R-Really? From that far away?"

"Y-Yeah, I have [Enhanced Hearing], so I can hear them."

"Huh?"

The guards seemed confused at me for some reason. This is quite an awkward silence, did I say something wrong? A conversation as suspicious as that can't possibly be ignored right?

"E-ehem! Yulis! We will check that alley for any suspicious individuals, prepare for narrow combat!"

"Yes Sir!"

One of the guards straightened his posture at the captain's command.

"Diren! Escort Sir Feyt home and then join us as soon as you can!"

"Yes Sir!"

The other guard walked to my side.

"Excuse us then Sir Feyt! We shall return after everything is settled!"

They should be fine right? They are knights after all. Even so, anything can happen.

"Stay safe."

"Thank you for the worry Sir Feyt. Let's go Yulis!"

"Yes Sir!"

The two guards marched towards the alley, while the guard beside me is watching them.

"Shall we go Sir Feyt?"

"You can just- follow them you know? My house is literally steps away."

"Even so! I shall escort you all the sa-"

"I know I know, let's just get this over with..."

These guys are annoying, but they're doing this to protect me so I can't complain. 

I feel tired mentally, I want to take a nap~ Wait no, I have lunch with mom and dad. Oh right, I can just take a nap as Carine. She's doing nothing at the moment after all. 

I started walking towards my house with Diren at my side.

 

---

 

"Carine is taking a nap?"

"Yes, she said something along the lines of 'Tired from cleaning'. However, I don't understand what she meant by that."

"Let her rest then, I don't want her to push herself. Any other reports, Leila?"

"Yes, a few actually."

Leila pulled out a few sheets of paper and began reading them to Kyrat.

...

"What? Tinore has already started drafting villagers? Did I hear that correctly?"

Kyrat was intrigued at Leila's report, why is Tinore rushing the draft?

"Yes, according to the reports. Several villages have been scouted by his soldiers and he's planning on sending the drafted commoners to Ortensia by tonight."

"Tonight? That's rather quick... I see, he plans on getting more favors by doing things first. Still, isn't he going a bit too fast?"

A violent knock was suddenly heard. Leila responded to it.

"What is it?"

"Urgent report!"

Leila looked at Kyrat, waiting for his response.

"Come in."

The door was violently opened as a knight named Diren came in holding a paper, his head is drenched with sweat as if he's been running all day. Kyrat recognized his face.

"Wait, aren't you the one assigned to guard Feyt?!"

"Haah... Haah... Report!"

He handed the paper towards Kyrat directly. Kyrat took the paper from the out of breath Diren and began reading it.

"...--!!"

The room was filled with silence as Kyrat's eyes went wider and wider the longer he read the paper. He stood up from his seat in a frantic manner.

"Prepare a horse towards the Muleid House immediately!"

"Right away, My Lord!"